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| April 29, 2007 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1428 |
Transporters stop supply of goods to Afghanistan
PESHAWAR, April 28: Pakistani and Afghan transporters almost halted the supply of goods to Afghanistan on Saturday — the second day of their strike against taxes and extortion across the border.
Transporters and traders told Dawn that the wheel-jam strike was more effective on Saturday as compared to Friday. Elaborating, they said the customs office at Torkham daily allowed between 400 and 450 trucks of different sizes to cross the border.
However, on Saturday hardly a few vehicles could cross the border, whereas no significant movement of vehicles was seen from Peshawar.
A customs clearing agent based in Torkham confirmed over the telephone that usually hundreds of loaded trucks arrived in the area bordering Afghanistan on a daily basis where they stayed for a day to get the requisite clearance.
He added that the few vehicles which crossed the border on Saturday and Friday were those for which clearance had been taken earlier.
“A few Pakistani trucks currently are parked at the Torkham station, but it seems that no onward movement would take place until the settlement of the ongoing crisis,” he remarked.
The situation was the same in the provincial capital, as the transporters kept their vehicles parked at warehouses located along the Ring Road.
Shakir Afridi, a transporter, said some representatives of the protesting transporters had met officials of the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar and apprised them of their grievances. “The Afghan officials have assured us that our demands will be communicated to Kabul from where a clear policy could be announced,” Mr Afridi said.
He added that contacts were also being made with the office-bearers of the oil tankers association to halt the supply of oil to the US and Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan from Sunday.
The ongoing strike has badly affected the supply of export and transit goods to Afghanistan. Haji Gul Afzal Shinwari, president of the Pak-Afghan Traders Group, and Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, chairman of the Frontier Customs Agents, told Dawn that for the last three days goods arriving at the Peshawar dry port were being dumped in warehouses because of the ongoing strike.
According to them, the suspension of goods supply was directly affecting the country’s exports, besides adding to the misery of thousands of daily wagers involved in the transport business. They urged the Afghan government to immediately start negotiations with the agitating transporters.
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